


After Careful Deliberation

by smokeandjollyranchers



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: All the water feelings, F/M, Fluff, Takes place on the Ocean™️, this is just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 17:13:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18721429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smokeandjollyranchers/pseuds/smokeandjollyranchers
Summary: Jester realizes she may have somehow missed her first kiss.





	After Careful Deliberation

_ She’s underwater again, her hair flowing around her. Jester waits for the burning to come, for the water to fill her lungs and choke her, but it doesn’t. Instead, she finds she doesn’t need to breath, like she’s dead.  _

_ This thought fills her with more panic than drowning does, and she looks around her, trying to find the surface. She tries to blow air out, to see where the bubbles go, but no bubbles come, and she feels tears in her eyes that don’t  ever fall. _

_ Jester tries to scream, but nothing comes out. She’s already dead, she already died and she can’t stop it and no one is going to save her, no one is able to save her. _

_ Suddenly, Fjord is in front of her, urgency in his eyes. His hands find her face, and he presses his lips against hers. She can feel air in her lungs once more, as he saves her like he did before. Jester wraps her arms around him, to anchor herself, to make sure he doesn’t die either. _

_ With air in her lungs again, she feels the burn suddenly, she realizes she’s underwater, and when she opens her eyes, the kiss breaks, and Caleb is the one in front of her. She tries to say his name, but he covers her mouth with his hand, and points to the surface. _

Jester wakes with a start, her eyes flying open.

She grabs her pillow and immediately throws it at Beau’s sleeping form. The monk snores loudly, then pops awake, her fists already raised. “WH’th’fuck?!”

“Beau!! Beau Beau Beau I need you to answer something for me!” Jester gets on her knees, looking at her friend. Beau, slowly realizing that they aren’t under attack, and are actually safe in their quarters on their newly gained Squall Eater, lowers her fists and fixes Jester with a glare.

“Jess, what the  _ fuck _ .”

“It’s important Beau!” Jester argues, leaning forward. “Does mouth to mouth count as kissing?”

Beau blinks at her slowly, looking a lot like cat Frumpkin when he’s deciding to actively ignore them. “Does mouth to mouth...you mean with Fjord? Shit Jess, I don’t know. It sure looked like a kiss to me?”

“Cuz that’s what makes it a kiss right?  _ Right _ , you just stick your mouths together and now its a kiss?!”

“Yes? Is...am I missing something here?” Beau asks her, sleep still deeply in her eyes. “I’m pretty sure that’s what kissing is?”

Jester jumps out of bed, and towards their door. “Okay, okay, okay, okay, I’ll be back soon! I have to deal with something!”

Beau watches, blearily, as her friend flies out of their room, leaving her confused, and with an extra pillow. “Fuck, whatever Jess.”

 

* * *

Jester rushes up to the deck of the ship, carefully looking around. She can’t see anyone around that would be suspicious of her being awake, just a few of their crewmates, and they’ve long since stopped giving Jester funny looks when she does something. She takes a deep breath of sea air, enjoying the salt on her face before she yells to the sky. “Traveler!! Are you here!! I  _ really  _ want to talk to youuuuuu!”

It’s quiet for a moment, and she closes her eyes. Sometimes he likes to just  _ appear _ and she waits for a couple moments. Eventually, she can feel him poking her back and she whirls to look at him, giant smile on her face. He has a gentle smile visible from under his hood, and he moves a few stray hairs off her forehead. “What’s troubling you, Jester?”

“I sort of had a weird dream.” She starts, leaning forward to whisper. “But there’s the thing, the dream was kind of how I think I might’ve realized something and I  _ needed _ your opinion.”

“Oooh, sounds dramatic.” The Traveler leans in closer as well. “How can I help?”

“Does mouth to mouth count as kissing, cuz if it  _ doesn’t _ , then I haven’t been kissed yet...but...if it does…”

“If it does…” The Traveler coaxes her on, a sly little smile on his face, like he already knows what she’s about to tell him.

“If it does, then Fjord isn’t my first kiss. Caleb is.” She explains, throwing her arms in the air. “You know, I gave him mouth to mouth back on the Mistake, and saved him from a heart attack. I don’t know if you knew that.”

“I think I saw something about that.” He grins. “You were very impressive.”

“Thank you, I know.” She flips her hair over her shoulder. “But, I dunno! I feel like I should tell Caleb! Should I tell Caleb? I feel like Caleb should know, right? No? Would Caleb even care? Should I maybe wait until the morning?”

“No, you should definitely go now.” He tells her, and she lifts an eyebrow at him, mischievous smile on her face.

“Are you getting me into trouble?”

“With who? Caleb? Caleb is made of paper and lucky to be alive, the  _ least _ he can do for the woman who stopped his heart attack is listen to her in the middle of the night.”

Jester snaps her fingers, and points at the Traveler. “You’re so right! Thank you! I’m going to go talk to him!”

“Godspeed, my dear. This is why you’re my favorite.”

She goes to wave at him, but he was gone. She smiles up at the sky, and blows the stars a quick kiss. “Thank you! You’re my favorite too!”

* * *

Jester knocks on Caleb’s door softly, only just remembering that Nott is in that room the second she’s done knocking.

A few moments later, Caleb answers the door, rubbing his eye a little. “Ja? Everything okay?”

“Sorry,” She gives him a smile. “I didn’t wake everyone up did it?”

“Nein, nein, Nott is very drunk and Frumpkin really couldn’t care less.” He moves a little so Jester can see inside the room, and she sees Nott sleeping with her head towards the foot of her bed, and Frumpkin sleeping dangerously close to her face. “How come you’re still awake?”

She notices his accent is a little thicker now that he’s just woken up, and he steps outside his room, closing the door behind him. Jester takes a deep breath and realizes has no idea what she even wants to tell him. “I’m gonna tell you something weird.”

“Okay.” Caleb waits, a ghost of a smile on his face. Jester can’t help but notice that Caleb isn’t annoyed by her waking him up in the middle of the night. “Tell me your weird thing.”

“Okay.” Jester takes a breath and looks him dead in the eyes. “You were my first kiss.”

Caleb’s face journey is  _ almost _ hilarious. He blinks, looks confused, looks like he might laugh, then he looks horrified, then he’s back to confused. “Sorry?” He finally chokes out, and Jester holds her finger up, like she’s giving clues in one of her and Nott’s cases.

“Okay so, after some very careful deliberation, I’ve come to the conclusion that mouth to mouth counts as kissing. Did Nott fill you in on this? We’ve chatted about this. Well, not this specifically, something similar, I’ll get there, don’t interrupt me-”

“I didn’t-”

“What did I just say! Honestly Caleb, I’m presenting the facts here.”

“Uh-“

“And if mouth to mouth counts, then my first kiss wasn’t with Fjord, underwater-“

“ _ That _ was your first kiss?!”

“No, that’s what I’m trying to  _ say _ ,” Jester rolls her eyes. “ _ You _ were. On the docks, when I cured your heart attack by giving you mouth to mouth.”

Caleb blinks, several times, mouth opening and closing until he’s finally able to stutter out some words. “I didn’t- I’m not— I’m  _ sorry _ .”

Jester crosses her arms, eyebrow tilting. “Why are you sorry? _ Technically  _ I kissed you, cuz I had to, you know, save your life.”

“You aren’t upset?”

“No! Of course not I just.” She twists one of the rings on her fingers. “Me and Fjord never talked about what happened with us and...that felt kind of  _ shitty _ , and I didn’t want  _ you _ to feel shitty either.”

He tries to hide it, but Caleb smiles at her, softly, before he’s leaning back into the embarrassment, hand scrubbing his bright red face. “Oh, I promise Jester, I was never upset, but thank you, for coming to talk to me. I appreciate it.”

“See! That’s what I wanted! A clear air!”

“ _ Ja _ , course. I understand. Sorry your first kiss was so... _ stupid _ .”

Jester beams at him, tail twisting happily. “It was chaotic and dumb and so cute, I liked it! But if you’re offering me a re-do, I’ll absolutely take it.”

_ Worth it, _ She smiles to herself, walking away, leaving Caleb red and sputtering.  _ But maybe I’ll ask for that someday. _

 

**Author's Note:**

> FOR THE WIDOJEST SERVER, ALWAYS


End file.
